Resolutions and the like

I've never been one to make a resolution at New Years time. Doing so just never seemed to 'do it' for me. In recent years I've set goals to be accomplished during the year. Well, last year, I didn't accomplish any of my goals. 2007 was a year I was glad to see go. I honestly can say that even though I didn't accomplish my goals, God accomplished much in my life.

This year, I'm looking at goals a bit differently. This article is one reason. The women on a message board that I have posted on off and on for a number of years used this article to choose their "word". I began to pray about what my goals or my "word" should be. This devotion arrived in my inbox on New Year's Day. I took this as a hint and my word for the year is "consecrated". Why? During 2007, I took my focus off what should be the most important thing in my life: my walk with the Lord. Sure, I attend church every week, but the time alone with God was missing. Last night I was reading through some blogs and came across this post written by one of the ministers at my church. I believe it goes right along with my word, consecration. I need to be intentional in my putting God first. Period. How have I begun to go about this? My list is below:

~~Reading the Word daily. I used to think I had to read through the Bible in a year, and keep up with the schedule. Now, I know it's important to be in the Word, and not worry about a schedule. If I read through it in a year, great! If not, that's okay too.

~~Spending time in private prayer.

~~Reading my Sunday school lesson instead of showing up on Sunday morning and expecting Matt to impart his wisdom on me.While Matt's a great teacher, and we are blessed to have him, I know that I'll get much more out of studying on my own, and comparing notes in class.

~~Participating in a Wednesday evening class. After my father-in-love died, Tom and I got caught up in helping my mother-in-love get through stuff, and we lost the habit of being in a study on Wednesday. This go around I'm participating in a Beth Moore study. Tom is doing a study at home with Kayla on our church's doctrinal statement, Mikaija is going to the middle school youth department, and Kris is attending the college group when he's not working.

~~The last thing I'm doing is Praise Moves, which is a Christian alternative to yoga. For so many years, I've tried to get fit on my own, and it's just not happening. This year, my workouts and my fitness will be dedicated to strengthen this temple God had given me, so I may be fit for service in His kingdom.

So, I guess my "word"/"words" are now, intentional consecration.